


Monsters

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, Community: comment_fic, F/M, Future Fic, Het, Kid Fic, Rare Pair, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-28 00:33:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8423803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: When a little girl has a bad dream, it disturbs Caitlin too, in more ways than one.





	

**Author's Note:**

> http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/763897.html?thread=100355577#t100355577  
> Theme :monsters  
> Prompt : The Flash, Caitlin Snow/Joe West, "There's no such things as monsters under the bed."

"Cait..."

The whisper of her name was accompanied by a little hand tugging at her shoulder and Caitlin's eyes flew open in a hurry. Finding herself staring into Dawn's dark eyes - her wide, tear-filled dark eyes, she noted immediately - she propped herself up on one elbow, reached out with one hand to cup the little girl's cheek. 

"What's wrong, Dawnie?" She kept her voice low, just in case, but she didn't need to glance over her shoulder to know that Joe hadn't woken. Which was unusual - he was normally a light sleeper where his grandkids were concerned but she'd been working late at STAR Labs and he'd had the two of them at the park by himself where they'd pretty much run him ragged. "I'm not as young as I used to be," he'd told her ruefully when they'd finally - finally - got the twins to sleep. 

"Monster," was all the little girl would say and Caitlin shook her head as she sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and pulling Dawn up onto her knee. 

"There's no monsters, Dawnie." Caitlin smoothed down her hair with one hand, rubbed her back with the other. "Remember, Pawpaw checked?" 

Dawn's bottom lip stuck out, trembling. "Me saw." Her little arms went around Caitlin's neck as her head rested on her shoulder. "It got in." 

Caitlin hid her smile with a kiss in the child's hair. "It was just a bad dream... Pawpaw won't let any monsters in here, you know that." She started to stand. "Come on, let's get you back to bed..."

Dawn let out a little whimper, her arms tightening around Caitlin's neck as her entire body went rigid. That instantly put Caitlin on alert because, much as Dawn was the livelier of the twins, she usually wasn't giving to acting up like this. 

"No go," she said, in a louder voice, one that had Joe turning in his sleep. Caitlin glanced at him and bit her lip, considering. 

"Is Don still asleep?" she asked Dawn, and the little girl nodded. 

"Ok... hold on to me." 

Slowly, carefully, Caitlin carried her out of the room and down the stairs, bringing her into the living room and sitting them down on the couch. She pulled the throw from the back of the couch, arranged it over them as Dawn stretched her legs across Caitlin's body, snuggled her head into her chest. "There's no monsters here," Caitlin told her, kissing the top of her head. "You go to sleep." 

The little girl was back asleep in minutes, but Caitlin was wide awake, was in no hurry to move, not with the warm weight of a sleepy three year old in her arms. She was content to listen to Dawn's breathing, to the noises of the house at night, to let her mind wander, flitting through what was and what once might have been. 

She didn't know how long she'd been there when she heard familiar footsteps coming down the stairs. Turning, she met Joe's eyes with a smile, raising a finger to her lips as he saw her and his shoulders visibly relaxed. 

"I woke up and you were gone," he whispered. "You ok?" She nodded and his face cleared still further as he came around to sit beside her and he saw Dawn's curly hair peeking out over the blanket. "Bad dream?"

"She came in a little while ago. Monsters under the bed." The couch dipped as he sat down beside her and he pulled down the edge of the blanket a little, running a finger down his granddaughter's cheek. She didn't stir and Caitlin's grin met Joe's. 

"Well, we know who her favourite is..."

He was teasing her and she felt her cheeks grow warm. "I was afraid she'd wake Don, or you, so I brought her down here... I tried to tell her monsters weren't real, but she didn't believe me." Her lips twisted in a rueful grimace as a thought came to her. 

Joe's hand came to her shoulder as he caught the expression on her face. "Caitlin?" 

It was easier to look at a sleeping Dawn than to look at him. "Will I still be her favourite?" she asked quietly. "When she finds out that there's no such thing as monsters under the bed... That they hide in plain sight... that anyone can..."

"Hey." Joe's voice, quiet but firm, cut her off. "Is this about this?" His fingers ran down the lone streak of white in her hair, the one that she'd cut off all those years ago, the one that grew back and stubbornly refused to vanish with the rest once they'd got her abilities under control. "Caitlin, that was a long time ago..."

"I hurt people," she reminded him. "People I love. People she loves. If she knew that..."

"When she knows that," Joe interrupted, "she'll also know that none of it was your fault... you didn't choose any of it. She'll know you spent every day since then regretting it, trying to make amends. And she'll know that you love her... almost as much as she loves you." 

Caitlin pressed her lips together to stop them from trembling. "I hope you're right." 

"Oh, I'm right." There wasn't a flicker of doubt in Joe's voice, in his eyes. "I know my granddaughter... I know you. I know there's nothing to worry about." 

His arm moved around her shoulders and he pulled her against him. She went willingly, felt him brush a kiss over her hair and she smiled to herself. "Now," he whispered, "let's get this little lady back to bed..." She looked up at him and he smirked. "And Dawn too." 

Caitlin chuckled, rolled her eyes as he stood, scooping Dawn up easily into his arms. The little girl didn't stir and Caitlin stretched her arms over her head. "I'm not tired," she said and Joe cocked one eyebrow, his own expression also not the faintest bit sleepy. 

"Who said anything about sleep?" he asked her, the light in his eyes igniting a different kind of warmth in her and, when Dawn was safely tucked back in bed, when they were too, monsters were far from either of their thoughts.


End file.
